Bill Pulte — a private equity executive and social media philanthropist — has quickly become an outspoken fixture in the Trump administration’s efforts to overhaul the central bank and use a little-known agency to investigate perceived enemies.
As head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who joined the president’s crusade to reshape the Federal Reserve, Pulte has publicly touted mortgage fraud investigations into Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Attorney General Leticia James and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, a Biden appointee. He has referred all three to the Justice Department for criminal investigations.
Pulte’s role, which he assumed in March, isn’t usually public-facing; he’s charged with overseeing the mortgage behemoths Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, for which past directors have carried out with little public fanfare. But Pulte has inserted himself into some of the Trump administration’s biggest directives by launching high-profile investigations.
After Pulte publicized a criminal referral to the DOJ Wednesday claiming Cook had falsified bank documents and property records in Michigan and Georgia to “potentially secure lower interest rates and more favorable loan terms,” President Donald Trump pounced. “Cook must resign, now!!!” Trump posted on his Truth Social website.
The investigations have also become a political flashpoint for liberals who believe the Trump administration is targeting Democrats who have gone after the president before. Schiff helmed the first impeachment proceedings against Trump, and James has repeatedly led or joined lawsuits challenging the president’s real estate business or his administration’s directives. Cook, however, did not make major public statements against Trump before this.
Cook, James and Schiff have denied wrongdoing.
“Do you really think Lisa Cook was the only one targeted?” Adam Levitin, a liberal Georgetown Law professor, wrote on the Credit Slips financial blog Wednesday. “Unless Pulte somehow had particular knowledge about issues with Cook’s application, which is unlikely, then one has to conclude that Pulte handed Fannie and Freddie a list of political enemies and asked for their loan files for review.”
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which did not make Pulte available to speak to POLITICO, did not respond to requests for comment. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the “entire Trump administration [is] appreciative of Mr. Pulte’s efforts.”
For his part, Pulte has said publicly that his investigation into Cook is an earnest effort to root out bad actors in the federal government.
“We refer people every day criminally for mortgage fraud, and no one is above the law. In this case it happens to be a Fed governor and I have an obligation to do something about it,” Pulte said about Cook on CNBC Wednesday. “I think it’s a big issue. I don’t think it’s going away. I think she will have to resign or I think she will be fired.”
Pulte’s actions have raised questions about how far the Trump administration will extend its political influence. Few administrations have shaken up traditionally independent agencies like the Federal Reserve in part because Congress has enacted protections to shield leaders of these offices — who can only be fired by a president for inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office — from politicization.
Pulte — whose grandfather founded PulteGroup, one of the country’s biggest homebuilding companies — has cultivated goodwill with Trump and his supporters. In 2019, Pulte said on the social media platform X, then known as Twitter, that he’d donate $30,000 to a veteran who couldn’t afford to pay for her utilities if then-President Donald Trump reshared his social media post.
“THANK YOU BILL!”he replied at the time.
Before his online philanthropy days, he attended Northwestern University, where he studied broadcast journalism. After graduating in 2010, he worked at the private equity fund Penske Capital Partners, which was run by the former race car driver Roger Penske, before starting his own firm called Pulte Capital Partners LLC, which focuses on housing. Pulte contributed heavily to the Republican National Committee and Trump’s campaign in 2024, The Detroit News reported, and he told the local news outlet the president was familiar with his work removing blight in Michigan.
This year, Trump announced Pulte as his pick for FHFA director on Truth Social and referenced the housing scion’s Twitter philanthropy. “Bill needs no formal introduction to the Great Citizens of our Country, because they have seen, and many have experienced, his philanthropy firsthand,” Trump wrote. “He believes in the incredible potential of our Nation, and will help us restore the American Dream FOR ALL.”
Pulte has since sought to make public Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage providers that have been in conservatorship since the 2008 financial meltdown. In March, Pultefired most of the board members at Fannie and Freddie and appointed himself as the chair of both boards.
He expressed willingness to execute the president’s directive: to sell shares of Fannie and Freddie on the stock market in hopes of reducing the government’s stake in these companies and supporting the mortgage market with private capital.
“President Trump is the ultimate decision maker on if, how and when to take Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public,”Pulte said in July. “He will make the best decision, and in all scenarios, President Trump will stay in control of Fannie and Freddie.”
For his work, Pulte has captured outsized name recognition and at times has outshined his boss, Scott Turner, a Cabinet member and the director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
On X, where he’s amassed over three million followers, he’s made dozens of posts on a near-daily basis, usually echoing Trump’s talking points. Since Wednesday, Pulte has also questioned Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s integrity at least six times on X, questioning why the fed chair is“harboring” Cook and“support[ing] mortgage fraud.”
“I hear Jay Powell is scrambling this morning,” Pulte posted Wednesday. “He can scramble all he wants, but he might as well be scrambling eggs, because the party at the Fed is OVER!”
Comments